Home » Powerlifting: 3 Maltese Lifters at the WDFPF European Championships

Powerlifting: 3 Maltese Lifters at the WDFPF European Championships

Wednesday, May 24, 2017, 16:25

From http://maltapowerlifting.blogspot.com.mt/

Earlier in May,, 3 Maltese lifters, Alexia Debattista, Maria Debono and Andrew Zammit Soler, lifted in Biella, Italy. Initially Dylan Callus, Shawn Farrugia and Sean Galea were also going to compete but due to injuries they had to withdraw from competition.

Weighing ins started at 8am. Starting off with the female lifters, Debattista contested the -58.5kg category and Debono the -55.5kg. Zammit Soler contested the -82.5kg category. After the squat warm ups, it was Debattista’s turn to squat on the platform. She started off with confidence, nailing a 90kg attempt. Unfortunately she narrowly failed a personal best and national record attempt at 95kg on the 2nd and 3rd attempt. She was red lighted for the second attempt as the bar dipped slightly during the ascent. Unfortunately Debattista didn’t reach depth on the 3rd attempt but the lift looked solid enough to be done with ease in the next competition. On to the bench press Debattista managed to press 40kg but failed the 42.5kg on her 2nd and 3rd attempts. Debattista had a great performance in the deadlift and she finished with the largest deadlift in her category with a 120kg pull.

Debono started off with a 95kg squat which she performed with ease. She went on to squat 100kg in her 2nd attempt and narrowly failed 105kg at the sticking point, slightly above parallel. Moving on to the bench press, Debono pressed 55kg on her first attempt and an effortless 60kg in her second. She tried to bench press 65kg on her 3rd attempt but narrowly missed the lift. Debono started off with a conservative 110kg pull in the deadlift and finished her competition with a 127.5kg personal record. Debono placed second in her cateogry, improved her Schwartz points to 272.5 and her total by 7.5kg.

The female and -67.5kg male flights took around 6 hours. This meant that Zammit Soler had to wait for quite a long time before he started with his warm up and psych up routine. An adequate ammount of caffeine got him in the groove though. The Crowd Pleaser, did not fail to entertain once again. He started off with a conservative 150kg in the 1st squat attempt and went on to nail a 157.5kg squat in his 2nd attempt. He decided to give the 165kg a try but unfortunately was red lighted due to lack of depth. Zammit Soler bench pressed 100kg with ease on his 1st attempt and nailed a 107.5kg bench press on his 2nd attempt which also happened to be a personal record. The Crowd Pleaser, like Debattista and Debono, excelled in the deadlift where he pulled 210kg in his 2nd attempt. He managed to get the 220kg off the floor but failed it just above the knees. He will surely pull this weight and more in the near future.

This competition served as a great experience for both the lifters and non-lifters who were present throughout the whole day. It was also the first time that these lifters competed on an International platform and we can only see them improve with time. They are the future of the sport and should they continue to train consistently, they will be giving hell to the top lifters of the WDFPF. Having said that, the results of the European Championship 2017 can be found on the WDFPF website.

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